The resistance is not over – Open letter after the #WorldAfrinDay

We, who are working here in Rojava as internationals, are part of the worldwide fight of the opressed against the reign of state, capital and pathriarchy.

– șehid Hêlîn Qercox

The #WorldAfrinDay has been a historical example of resistance and international solidarity. Thousands took to the streets and stood up against this war, giving their support to the resistance and values of this revolution. Solidarity came from more than 50 cities from all around the world, and it proved how important what is happening here is for people. New groups and new people are organizing their solidarity, getting involved and defend the revolution. From Canada to Australia, from Mexico to Japan, the world has shown that Afrin is not alone.

For two months, the bombs of the Turkish army have been falling and killing people in Afrin. During these same two months, there have been worldwide actions against this occupation. And they will continue. Afrin, as the western canton of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria, will be defended as the beacon of hope that it became, as the source of inspiration that it is. The bottom-up democracy, with women at the forefront building social ecology, is what the capitalist system tries to keep locked up, claiming that ‘there is no alternative’, that utopia is not possible. But here, we learned that another world is not only possible, but necessary, and it just depends on how much we believe in it, how determined we are to bring this utopia into existence.

Afrin is now under the occupation of the Turkish army. After these months of resistance, to see the occupation forces entering the city may seem like the utopia is going away once again; but no one said the revolution would come around easily. It was something we had only imagined before coming to Rojava, and witnessing with our own eyes what’s going on here. Today, here, we are taking on several centuries of the capitalist system and nation-state model. We are challenging thousands of years of patriarchal oppression and male rule power. We are challenging the essence of how society itself is perceived and organized.

But today we also need to examine ourselves and assess what we have done. As the internationalist commune, we did not manage to develop the full potential that international solidarity can mean for this revolution. We were not able to follow all the initiatives and actions that people shared with us, we were not able to give our perspectives and answers to all the ideas and proposals that were presented to us. We were not able to give the right answer to the attacks that struck us. We were not able to understand the real dimensions of the revolution that is going on here and the importance of defending what today is being developed.

But we will reflect on that, and we will learn from our mistakes. When the next attack of the ruling powers strikes once again, we will be wiser and more experienced, and more capable of defending ourselves and the people around us. We know that this can happen at any time, maybe tomorrow, and we know we can not do it alone. We need to be able to see the threats before they are too big to overcome. We need to have better and deeper analysis of the situation we are in. We need all the hope and the international solidarity that this revolution is raising in people’s hearts. And that’s why we call on you to come here.

But if you can’t come, there are still a thousand ways you can contribute to this resistance. We need to think how we can make this revolution successful, and what can be done in every place to achieve this aim. As internationalists, we need to be able to act and interact with the society we are in. We need to learn from the past movements and analyze what are the best ways to face oppression. From mass mobilization, to civil disobedience. From solidarity demonstrations, to direct actions. Yesterday, we showed the world that together we are strong. But the situation in Afrin today showed us that this is not enough. So now, we need to open a global debate about what should be the next step.

– This open letter is a call to all the people and groups who took an active role in the #WorldAfrinDay, and also to other initiatives in solidarity with the Afrin resistance. We want to open a public debate. We will be expecting your answers, your ideas, your proposals. We also call for your support to spread and translate this letter, you can find our email in ourwebsite.

“The Trump administration’s April 6 targeted missile strike on the Syrian airbase from which the chemical attack was launched, is not a reflection of any genuine concern for the Syrian people. It will not help the struggle against the Assad regime, ISIS and Al Qaida. Instead, this administration’s latest airstrikes are motivated by other aims.

April 7, 2017

The chemical bombing of innocent civilians in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun (Idlib province) which was perpetrated by the Assad regime and its allies, Russia and Iran on April 4, is yet another step in the murderous campaign to destroy what is left of the popular opposition to the Assad regime. After putting under siege and destroying Eastern Aleppo, the most important center of the popular and democratic opposition, and forcing the survivors as well as the survivors from other besieged opposition areas to go to Idlib , the regime is now concentrating its forces on bombing the civilian population in Idlib and Aleppo provinces.

The Trump administration’s April 6 targeted missile strike on the Syrian airbase from which the chemical attack was launched, is not a reflection of any genuine concern for the Syrian people. It will not help the struggle against the Assad regime, ISIS and Al Qaida. Instead, this administration’s latest airstrikes are motivated by other aims.

Just two days earlier the Trump administration had announced that its priority was not the ouster of Assad. Once the Assad regime’s chemical bombing delivered a blow to the credibility of U.S. imperialism however, the decision was made to strike Assad’s air base. In order to calm some dissent within the Republican party’s leadership, Trump had to show that contrary to Obama, he had some “red lines.”

Furthermore, given the daily new revelations about the Trump administrations close ties to Putin’s Russia and the ways in which these revelations have seriously damaged its credibility even among its supporters, the missile strike in Syria was a way for this administration to partially distance itself from Russia. However, at this point, we can say that this strike which was announced in advance to the Russian government, does not indicate any strategic change in U.S. policy concerning the future of Syria or the Assad regime. The focus of the U.S. government will still be seeking a transition in which the core of the Assad regime is not challenged. Such a policy will be justified by this administration in the name of the “War on Terror.”

In general, since coming to office, the Trump administration has given every indication that its goal is to promote undemocratic, racist, sexist Middle Eastern leaders and strengthen the repressive environment of the Middle East: He or his advisers have met with Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Egyptian president, General Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, Saudi Arabian Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, King Abdullah of Jordan. On March 30, U.S. Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson’s visit to Turkey gave a nod of approval to Erdogan who has arrested over 70,000 people in the past year, continually bombed the Kurdish population of Turkey and Syria, and is aiming to vastly expand his repressive powers against all forms of dissent, through a referendum on April 16. Tillerson’s visit also led to some unannounced agreements which do not bode well for the Kurds in Turkey and Syria.

Most importantly, recent American airstrikes in Mosul, Aleppo and Raqqa which are supposedly aimed at stopping ISIS, have brought about large civilian death tolls. They have been some of the deadliest since U.S. airstrikes on Syria started in 2014. They show that greater U.S. military intervention in Syria will only lead to more death and destruction. One resident of Mosul, Iraq who was fleeing ISIS, compared the destruction brought about by the latest U.S. airstrikes in Mosul to the U.S. dropping of a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. (See Tim Arango, “Civilian Deaths Rising in Iraq and Syria as Battles Intensify in Dense City Areas.” New York Times, March 28, 2017). According to Airwars, during the month of March alone, as many as a thousand civilians have been killed by U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria in the name of the “War on Terror.” (https://www.democracynow.org/2017/3/27/more_than_1_000_civilians_killed)

These realities not only reveal the Trump administration’s motives but also compel us to condemn all the states that are carrying out wars against innocent civilians in the Middle East: The Syrian and Iranian regimes, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, all the other authoritarian regimes in the region, ISIS, Al Qaida, as well as Russian and Western military interventions. They are all part of an imperialist logic and the maintenance of authoritarian and unjust systems. They all oppose the self-determination of the peoples of the region and their struggles for emancipation. Hence, anti-war activists whether in the Middle East or the West need to address all forms of repression and authoritarianism, and condemn all forms of foreign intervention against the interests of the people of the region, instead of limiting their criticisms only to the West and Israel.

Clearly, no peaceful and just solution in Syria can be reached with Bashar al-Assad and his clique in power. He is the biggest criminal in Syria and must be prosecuted for his crimes instead of being legitimized by international and regional imperialist powers.

Clearly, an effective way to help Syrians and to change the worsening course of events in the region today is for those Iranians and Russians who oppose their rulers’ military intervention in Syria to build strong anti-war movements that show the connections between their governments’ support for the Assad regime and the worsening domestic repression and impoverishment. Why has this not happened? Is government repression inside Russia and Iran the only reason?

In Russia, last week, tens of thousands demonstrated against the corrupt practices of prime minister Dmitry Medvedev and other Russian oligarchs. Criticism of Putin’s imperialist wars however was not highlighted by most who focused on the internal corruption of the rich. Whether these demonstrations expand their horizons remains to be seen.

In Iran, not a day goes by without labor protests in various parts of the country. These protests have focused on the non-payment of wages, layoffs, temporary contracts without any rights or benefits, “privatization” of government jobs, lack of work and safety regulations, non-payment of pensions and the very low minimum wage ($240 per month) in a country in which the minimum needed for an urban family of four to survive is $1000 per month.

It is the responsibility of Iranian socialists to show the connections between the worsening economic and social conditions of the Iranian workers, teachers and service workers, and Iran’s capitalist, militarist and imperialist policies in Syria and in the Middle East region as a whole.

The failure to draw these connections partly stems from the strength of the Iranian regime’s propaganda which presents the Syrian opposition to the Assad regime as entirely consisting of ISIS and Al Qaida. The nationalism of those Iranian leftists who implicitly or explicitly support the Assad regime and Putin, has also assisted the Iranian government.

As the Alliance of Syrian and Iranian Socialists, we have made efforts to address these issues through our analyses and by airing the views of those Iranians who oppose their government’s military intervention in Syria. We welcome more ideas and comments from those who represent THE OTHER IRAN and who want to create an anti-war movement to stop Iran’s support for the Assad regime.

We agree with those Palestinian who protested in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine, against the Syrian regime’s chemical bombing of Khan Sheikhoun. They chanted: “Not Leftists, Not Leftists, Those Who Stand with Bashar al-Assad.”

Two open letters from a 22-year old and 86 year old Palestinians who have lived all or most of their lives in a refugee camp in Lebanon but have no citizenship there. Currently on a speaking tour in the US, these two letters were hand delivered to 11 US congress members.

I know that you asked John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, to report to you about gross human rights violations committed by Israel. My entire life is the result of such violations, so I would like to report to you about it.

I was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, as were my parents and some of my grandparents. My family and the families of millions of Palestinians in refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine were expelled in 1948, a crime that continues until today. This expulsion has a name. You call it ethnic cleansing or genocide. We call it al-Nakba (the Catastrophe).

I was born in Lebanon, but I do not have Lebanese citizenship because I am not Lebanese, and Israel does not let me return to my home in Palestine. I am stateless and have no citizenship in any country. No one defends my rights. Without citizenship, it is very difficult to travel, even to neighboring Arab countries. It is even more difficult to work, because we are considered foreigners and do not have the rights of Lebanese.

I am currently on a speaking tour of the US and Canada with 86-year-old Nakba survivor Mariam Fathalla. We were invited by a US human rights organization to tell our story in more than 30 cities over two months. We have met many kind and sympathetic Americans during this time, but we are very disappointed in US and Canadian policy. Your country is supporting criminal behavior towards Palestinians.

We have also met many Palestinians who are living good lives in America. We do not enjoy the same privileges in Lebanon. But living good lives in other countries is not a solution for us. We are Palestinians, and however much our rights are respected or abused in other countries, we demand our right to return to our homes in Palestine, as guaranteed by the Geneva Conventions, the UN Charter and other international law.

If you respect human rights, you have to enable all Palestinians to return to their homes in Palestine and to live there in freedom and dignity. I am 22 years old, but when I am 86 like Mariam, I hope to be living in my home in Palestine. If not, I will return with another 22-year-old Palestinian to remind Americans of unkept promises and the support of your country for human rights violations.

I hope you care whether US policy supports human rights violations. I want to tell you about such violations, because they happened to me.

On May 14, 1948, the “birthday” of “Israel”, my village of al-Zeeb in northern Palestine was invaded by heavily armed Zionist troops, and all of the inhabitants were expelled. I was 18 years old. After some of my unarmed neighbors were massacred by the invaders, I and my husband and our families fled to Lebanon along with the rest of the town. By the end of the year, our 4,000-year-old community had been leveled to the ground.

[title] [name], this is a gross human rights violation known as ethnic cleansing or genocide. More than half the Arab Palestinians in Palestine were killed or expelled and more than half of the cities, towns and villages of Palestine were made to disappear, a crime that we Palestinians call al-Nakba (the Catastrophe).

I have lived for the last 68 years in a refugee camp in south Lebanon called Ein el-Helweh, waiting to return to my home in al-Zeeb, as US and international law requires. During that time Israel has invaded south Lebanon multiple times and even bombed our crowded refugee camp, killing lots of unarmed civilians, including children. Al-Nakba did not end in 1948, and it continues today.

Some good American people invited me to come to the US to tell our story to the US and Canadian people. I have seen your beautiful country, and I have met many Palestinians who have made the US and Canada their second homes. Our situation in Lebanon is not as good. We are stateless and have few rights. But we are not seeking another country. We have a home and a country, and we want to return to it, and this is our right.

[title] [name], US support is enabling Israel to continue its violation of our rights. We want only to return to our homes in Palestine and to live there in freedom. I want to see my beloved town of al-Zeeb again and to watch my children and grandchildren continue our family there. What is the US policy about this? What can you do to help us?